Shadows of the Past
by zeroonezero
Summary: An (AU) Crusade & Star Trek TNG crossover : Galen is ordered to investigate an EF excavation, while Picard finally has something other then an anomaly to discover.
1. Legacy

Shadows of the Past  
  
Crusade & Star Trek TNG crossover : Galen is ordered to investigate an EF excavation, while Picard finally has something other then an anomaly to discover.  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own Crusade or Star Trek, nor any of the content from those shows.  
  
Chapter 1  
  
"Ship pursue" Galen commanded after he associated with his ship  
  
The Excalibur opened a Jump point and set course for Babylon 5 to negotiate landing rights on Lorka 7. Just behind the Excalibur Galen's ship accelerated through the jump point careful to never get too close to the massive warship in front of it.  
  
Galen accessed his probes on the bridge of the Excalibur and listened in.  
  
"So Gideon means to go to Babylon 5"  
  
Suddenly Galen felt a forceful tug as he was ripped from his ship. The electron incantation always startled Galen, but then who wouldn't be startled to suddenly find themselves propelled perhaps a hundred lightyears away from their position in a matter of seconds. Of course he wasn't really torn out of his ship, but the perception was the same nonetheless.  
  
"Galen" a strongly modulated voice proclaimed  
  
"What have I done to earn attention from the esteemed council this time?" asked Galen recognizing Gowen's voice  
  
"I am not here to give you a reprimand for your actions Galen, but if you would like I could convince the council to set up an investigation," replied Gowen sarcastically  
  
"That will not be necessary Gowen"  
  
"Good then we should get down to business" "Our intelligence probes have intercepted many gold priority transmissions from Earth Force detailing the excavation of an ancient city that could have possibly belonged to the Shadows. We need to be sure if this is in fact an ancient Shadow city, and if it does turn out to be one, we will need you to do anything in your power to keep it out of the hands of Earth Force."  
  
"But what about Gideon and the Excalibur?" asked Galen  
  
"Don't worry, if our information on the Lorkans is correct, Gideon won't be going anywhere"  
  
Suddenly Galen's vision darkened and he fell back into his ship. The incantation was over and hardly a fraction of a second in real time had passed since it was initiated. Galen noticed that he had received a message from Gowen. In his mind's eye he opened the message and scanned the contents. The message contained background information on EF ship positions near the planet, copies of the intercepted transmissions, and coordinates to the planet in question.  
  
"Ship set course to beacon 11582, alert me when we near our destination"  
  
Galen decided to get some sleep while he could. His trip through hyperspace would take just over 9 hours and he was going to take advantage of the time he had.  
  
Chapter 2  
  
Galen's tech woke him.  
  
"Ship what time is it?"  
  
A holographic display lit up revealing the time of 21:30 Earth Standard Time. Galen couldn't believe it; he slept for the entire 9 hours. This was the first time he had slept that long since he was in the chrysalis stage on Soom. Galen scanned for other ships, and located a lone Starfury patrolling hyperspace near the gate. He launched a probe and had it follow the fighter knowing that the fighter would eventually have to go through the local gate to normal space.  
  
Galen watched the picture through his conjured sphere as his probe emerged in realspace, scanning the surroundings. The scan revealed an Explorer class ship, an IPX freighter, and a Hyperion cruiser. Galen ordered the probe to orbit the planet above the excavation site to get a picture of what was happening on the planet. The immensity of the excavation astounded Galen as he viewed several structures at least a mile tall extruding from the ground. The structures looked organic to Galen but they did not remind him of the previous shadow buildings he has seen during the Shadow war.  
  
The ships proximity sensors suddenly chimed as a ship came in to range. The sensors indicated that it was an Omega class destroyer, and it was headed for the gate. Galen ordered his ship to follow the Omega through the jump gate and used his probe to pick out a spot on the planet to land.  
  
The atmosphere of the planet had all of the essential ingredients to support human life in the air, but the amount of carbon monoxide was still dangerous. Galen cast a shield around himself, and created a platform to take him to the excavation site. He was dismayed to see not only humans but also Drakh filing in and out one of the buildings. Technomages were weary of the Drakh because they had no way to know how much they knew of their order. Some feared that they could see through the illusions that the mages made. Galen had no choice but to attempt to enter the building using a full body illusion. He conjured up the uniform and mask of an IPX employee and filed into the massive structure.  
  
To his surprise Galen found the structure to be hollow. The only remarkable feature was a large machine in the center of the structure. Humans and Drakh were arrayed around the machine and Galen knew he had to find a way to get them out. While he was plotting of a way to eject the unwanted visitors he noticed one of the Drakh glancing his way. Seconds later he heard the charge of ppg's and knew his cover had been blown. Galen released his body illusion, and invoked his shadow armor and weapons. The human scientists, and archeologists looked in disbelief as ppg rounds blasted at the strange creature before them. Galen counted the number of attackers.  
  
"Good only 5"  
  
He aimed his shadow hand beam at the EF security officers and quickly took out two of them. Only the Drakh and two more security officers continued to fire at Galen but none of their fire could connect. Galen took out the two last security guards and set his sights on the Drakh. In his hand he conjured a fireball and sent it on a path to the Drakh. The Drakh dodged the fireball, but the next two fireballs connected sending the Drakh running towards the exit on fire. Galen marshaled the rest of the people out of the structure by sending more fireballs in their direction. Galen walked up next to the machine and touched the shadow skin that made up the exterior. It was a curious machine and Galen wished he could study it but he knew that more security would be on their way.  
  
Galen was about to conjure his spell of destruction but his curiosity got the best of him. He decided that he would attempt to associate with machine to figure out what its purpose was, and then he would destroy it. He formed the spell to associate, and the machine powered up. Feeling an uncontrollable surge of energy over him, Galen attempted to form the spell to disassociate with the machine but it would not work. The machine enveloped the structure in a flash of energy and Galen disappeared.  
  
Chapter 3  
  
Picard sat down in the ready room with a grin on his face. This was the grin that only came when the Enterprise ran into something that was of great interest to him. Below him was a planet that presented him with the archeological find of a lifetime.  
  
"Captains log: supplemental- We are in orbit of Laugesh 7, an M class planet that we have found to contain structures of an unusual type. Sensors indicate that the structures themselves are made of living organic material, and are almost a mile tall. Whatever species had once lived here left behind an unusual mark and I intend to personally find out who they were." Picard walked out of the ready room and onto the bridge.  
  
"Number one I am leaving you in command of the ship. Data I want you and Mr. Worf to accompany me to the surface of the planet."  
  
"Captain, do you think is wise for you to go to the surface?" asked Riker  
  
"Number one; Mr. Worf, Data, and I are perfectly capable of handling this mission."  
  
The away team lead by Picard beamed to the surface near the central structure. "Captain, I am detecting a small power source in this building," commented Data  
  
"Very well then lets check it out," added Picard  
  
Picard, Worf, and Data entered the cavernous open area of the structure heading towards the power source ahead. "I believe I have located the source of the output," said Data waiving the others  
  
"What do you make of it Data?" asked Picard  
  
"I need to get closer and perform a more detailed scan to tell"  
  
"Go ahead"  
  
Data walked up next to the machine and initiated the scan. As soon as the scan initiated Data froze in place.  
  
"Data...Data!" called Picard  
  
Both Picard and Worf carefully approached Data. When they reached him it was as if he and his tricorder went dead. A few seconds later a light began to form to the side of the machine, and a black figure jumped out of it knocking Worf down. Worf threw the creature off of him and pulled out his phaser. He was dismayed to find out that it to had also been drained of power.  
  
"Captain I think we have been ambushed!" exclaimed Worf  
  
"Easy Worf we might have a first contact situation on our hands"  
  
Galen stood opposite of Worf and Picard wondering how a human had got back to the machine so quickly, and how he was able to breath without a mask. He also found the uniforms and the alien creature to be strange. Both sides were locked in a standoff. Worf tossed his dead phaser aside and took an aggressive stance, while Picard stood in a more cautious but diplomatic stance. Picard spoke first:  
  
"I am Captain Jean Luc Picard of the United Federation of Planets and this is Lt. Cmdr. Worf; we are on a peaceful exploration mission"  
  
Picard and Worf waited for a reply but none came. "Perhaps it does not understand us," said Worf. As soon as Worf finished the sentence Galen turned around to face the entrance. At that moment Riker and a security team ran into the room and aimed their phasers at Galen. 


	2. Part 2

Chapter 4  
  
"Captain! We beamed down as soon as we lost your signal. Are there any problems?"  
  
The away team quickly positioned themselves around the black creature with phasers extended. Finally it spoke: "I've never heard of a Federation, is it some new section of the Earth Alliance?" To which Picard replied: "I've never heard of a Earth Alliance. The United Federation of Planets is a government made up of multiple species. War, starvation, and disease have been eliminated among member worlds."  
  
Galen pondered on this for a moment. Had these people been Earth Force security officers they would have opened fire the moment they saw him. He also guessed that since he was alone in the room for one moment, and suddenly thrown into another species of alien that he had never encountered before, that somehow he must have been transported somewhere else. He decided that the best course of action would be to gain the trust of the strangers here in order to find a way to make it back.  
  
The junior security officers flinched as the creature suddenly changed forms from the black creature to a human like form; the senior officers remained steady. "My name is Galen, I am a part of an order called the Technomages. I was sent to this place....actually a place very similar to investigate something."  
  
"Perhaps we could discuss this further on my ship" Suddenly Galen had a thought "my ship". He had forgotten about it in the rush of events that he just had. A Technomage's connection to his ship was a strange one that no Technomage fully understood. It was thought to be possible for a mage to be on the other end of the universe and still be connected to his ship, though the farther one is from his ship the more tenuous the connection. Galen still felt a connection to his ship, but it felt different. It was flat, two-dimensional, at least that's the only way he could describe the connection to himself. Without the familiar feeling of the connection to his ship he felt somewhat empty inside. He hoped it would pass in time if he couldn't find a way back soon.  
  
"Where is you shuttle?" asked Galen as the group walked out of the building  
  
"We didn't use a shuttle," replied Picard Picard tapped his com badge. "Picard to enterprise, eight to beam up"  
  
Galen felt a tingle, and saw a flash of light as he disappeared.  
  
Chapter 5  
  
"So you're telling me that Data simply initiated a scan, and then went dead?" asked Geordi "That's correct," answered Worf "Captain, I don't know what to make of this. All attempts to recharge Data have failed. I may have to resort to building him a new power cell, but the one he had wasn't exactly Starfleet standard issue. It could take up to a week." "Make it so," replied Picard  
  
Picard walked out of Engineering determined to get some answers from the visitor that he encountered on the planet. He walked up to the quarters supplied to the visitor and saw a curious flash of light through the crack in the door. The instant he chimed the lights went away.  
  
"Enter"  
  
Picard entered the dimmed quarters and took a seat across from Galen. "One of my crew members was incapacitated by that machine just moments before you came out of it. I was wondering if you could tell me why?"  
  
Galen thought for a moment. "I can't tell you how your crew member became incapacitated, but I can tell you why your weapons died on you. The machine in that building was built by a race called the Shadows. What purpose it served and how they built it here I don't know, but I do know that it can be used to transport objects, or people over vast distances and possibly universes. When certain technology of theirs lacks a primary power source it has the ability to leech it off of other artificial power sources, sometimes completely draining them of energy."  
  
"So that's what happened to Data," commented Picard Picard thought for a moment. "The machine in our part of space must have been mostly powered down. By initiating a scan Data must have activated it somehow, and since the power cell in Data carries a lot of energy he must have given the machine just enough to send you to this place. But how did you" Picard's com badge chirped. "What is it?" "Sir, there is a priority one message for you" "I'll take it in the ready room." Picard tapped his com badge off. "We'll continue this conversation another time"  
  
Picard took a seat and activated the com screen. "Admiral Hawke, what is the problem?" "Picard, the Romulans are screaming bloody murder. They claim that the Federation attacked and destroyed their research post in the Aegonis system. They also claim that we broke treaty by using cloaking devices on new advanced warships." "Admiral, the Aegonis system houses one of their most important weapons research stations. The system is a veritable fortress, it would take a whole fleet of ships to take it." "I know Captain, but they claim it anyway. We need your ship at the boarder immediately. We can only conclude that the reason they haven't attacked us is that they think we are using some new advanced warships. Captain we need you to figure out the situation immediately. The Federation does not need a war right now." "Understood we will set course as soon as possible."  
  
Picard slowly stood up and hit his com badge. "Number one, set course for the border of Romulan space nearest to the Aegonis system." "Captain, what about out guest?" "Bring him to the bridge"  
  
Chapter 6  
  
The doors of the turbo shaft opened. Galen and a security officer exited onto the bridge. Picard turned towards Galen. "We have urgent business to attend to and we have to leave." Galen knew that he needed to remain on the planet to look for a way to return to his universe. "Captain, would you allow me to remain on the planet in order to look for a way to return home?" The captain considered. "Granted, as long as couple of my crew join you. Ensign Crusher, you and one security officer will accompany him to the surface." Beverly stood up in protest but Picard shot her a stare knowing the danger that lay ahead. "You will take a shuttle to the surface with full reserves. I'm not sure when we will be back"  
  
Galen and his party left the Enterprise in a shuttle while Picard explained the situation to those on the bridge. Beverly was only slightly more relieved to know that her son wouldn't be going on this mission, but the fact that he was almost alone on a planet with a stranger didn't reassure her too much.  
  
The shuttle glided through the atmosphere towards the Shadow city. "I don't get it," explained Wesley "Why don't you just 'associate' with the machine in our universe like you did in yours?" "Because of the uncertainty involved. When I associated with the machine in my universe I was unable to disassociate. If your Data had never been by your machine, there is no telling what the lack of energy might have done. It is possible that I may have never reassembled in your universe. Without the assurance of a power source on my side it's too dangerous to take that way back." "Then why do you want to return to the planet?" "The Shadows had to have some way to get here to build the machine in your universe to begin with. If I can figure out how they came to this place then I may be able to take that way back." The shuttle made a flyby of the ancient city taking detailed scans of the entire area. It landed in an open area near the main building. They chose a smaller building to the side to set up camp. Wesley quickly took out his tricorder and began scanning the skin of the buildings while Galen and the security officer unloaded some equipment from the shuttle.  
  
While the Enterprise was en route to the boarder a feeling of Détente had spread to the crew. They had all been informed of the danger now and an eerie silence spread through the ship, only interrupted by the hum of the warp engines. In just 8 short hours they would be in the most dangerous stretch of space in the quadrant. 


	3. Part 3

Part 3  
  
Chapter 7  
  
Galen, Wesley, and the security officer explored the dark hallways of the building they occupied. It appeared that it was once used as an information depot containing displays and communications equipment more on the level that the Drakh and Technomages used then what the Shadows used. Galen noticed a tachyon relay similar to the kind used by Technomages next to one of the communication stations. He knew that if one existed in this location that there could be an entire network that would be unknown to other races in this universe. Reaching out with his hand he associated with the communication Station in order to gain complete control of the unit. What he found was disturbing. On top of there being a secret communications network, he found that parts of it were actively being used. He turned around to face Wesley.  
  
"Could I see your tricorder for a moment?" "Sure"  
  
To Wesley it appeared that the tricorder had been possessed. The screen flashed wildly as if recording some unseen, absurd amount of data. Galen handed the device back to its owner.  
  
"We need to go back to the shuttle to analyze this data. I don't think that the tricorder has enough power for our needs." Stated Galen  
  
Aboard the shuttle Wesley uploaded the data from the tricorder. Eager to see what had been recorded in the device he ordered the computer to analyze the data.  
  
There were a few chirps from the computer and a few seconds later a computerized voice relayed the findings. "The uploaded data contains one starmap, four hundred and fifty five thousand hours of voice and video communications, as well as twelve thousand and four data transfers."  
  
"Computer, display the starmap" commanded Wesley With a quick chirp a map was displayed showing the tachyon network. It appeared to exist over the entire federation as well as parts of the Romulan and Klingon territories. "Wait," asked Galen "Computer, display all communications occurring between 0800 and 0900 on this date." Another chirp was given. "There were 31 communications in progress and communications started during the specified time. "Limit the results to those that used beacon 331" added Galen "One communication matches the specifications." "Display"  
  
Wesley gasped as he recognized the man in the communication. "We need to inform the Enterprise at once!"  
  
Chapter 8  
  
The Enterprise was one hour away from its destination. "Yellow alert! Lets be ready for this one." Commanded Picard "Captain, we are receiving an emergency transmission from Ensign Crusher." Beverly looked over to Picard. "On screen." She then looked at the screen half relieved that he seemed all right.  
  
"Captain!" Wesley's features showed some panic. "Calm down ensign Crusher, what is the problem?" asked the captain "Sir, you are running into a trap, I mean you are being used!"  
  
"What do you mean? You are going to have to be more specific then that." Replied Picard "I'm sending you a communication that we picked up over a secret communications network. It is from someone you know.... Sloane." "Sloane" Picard whispered "Wesley, we will contact you shortly. Stay in the shuttle for now."  
  
"Captain, we have received the data upload." "Good, I'll take a look at it in my ready room."  
  
Picard sat down in his chair and swiveled the monitor to face him. "Computer, open the file" Picard saw Sloane talking to someone unseen. Sloane asked the unidentified person if the mission was a success. That person responded by saying "Yes, the Romulans now think that Starfleet attacked their station, hopefully they will do as we expect and attack the Federation 'peace' envoy when they discover that there aren't new warships in the fleet." Sloane looked directly into the camera "and if they don't?" "Don't worry, we have a backup plan, blue14 is already in place in their capital city" replied the unknown man. With that, the message ended.  
  
Picard pondered on what was said, and then immediately had the computer analyze the message to confirm that it was Sloane. When he received the results he made up his mind.  
  
Chapter 9  
  
A sigh of relief was released when Picard's face appeared on the comms screen. "We are on our way to pick you up. I sent a copy of your transmission to Admiral Hawke. Hopefully he will order the ships on the boarder to vacate the area near the Aegonis system. We are moving at maximum warp so we should be there in approximately 6 hours." Galen turned towards the screen. "I think I have found out some more information, expect another upload soon." That was news that Picard was happy to hear. He would need all the evidence he could get to convince Starfleet that section 31 was behind the mysterious destruction of the Romulan research station, and even more evidence to convince them that Starfleet ships and crew were in great danger." While staring at the small screen in his ready room he heard a small tapping noise from the shuttle. Suddenly there was an explosion, and the back hatch of the shuttle blew off. The security officer began to raise his weapon when a bolt of some kind hit him. It was at this moment that the signal was jammed.  
  
Galen swirled around into action sending a volley of fireballs in the general direction of the attackers. This successfully pushed the attackers out of the shuttle. In this time he conjured a shield in place of the former hatch. Knowing that it was quickly being overwhelmed with fire he yelled at Wesley to takeoff. Wesley looked back at Galen. "Where should I go? If they have a ship in orbit we can't go to space, plus we are missing a back door!" Galen thought quickly. "Just take us over to that building. Do you think the shuttle can fit in that opening?" Wesley glanced at the building that Galen pointed to while taking off. It looked like a tight fit but he thought he could make it. To him the building looked like it was a hanger of some sort. While the shuttle was in the air they received more fire from the ground but not much connected. Unfortunately one lucky shot hit the port nacelle and caused it to loose eighty percent of its power. Wesley could barely weave the crippled shuttle around the buildings. On approach the shuttle clipped the side of the entrance and finally made a spinning stop in the cavernous hanger.  
  
Wesley sat hunched over his console bleeding from several areas. Galen was starting to stand up. He had a gash across his forehead. Galen found Wesley to be in bad shape and decided to transfer some of his healing nanites over to him. He knew they couldn't stay in the shuttle for long so he began to drag him out of the shuttle. There was a reason that Galen told Wesley to fly into this particular building. On previous missions to places with shadow structures he had seen many similar structures. These structures as Wesley had correctly guessed were hangers. Unfortunately this hanger was empty, but Galen knew that they usually had easy access to underground caves and structures that the Shadows always built in places such as this. Sure enough there was access to such a tunnel in this structure. Knowing the distances often involved in such tunnel systems Galen felt it was best to conjure a flying platform to take himself and Crusher below.  
  
Chapter 10  
  
Picard was shuffling through the latest upload when he received a new transmission from Admiral Hawke. He sighed momentarily and then opened up the channel.  
  
"Captain, do you realize that you have disobeyed a direct order?" "Admiral, in the interest if the security of the Federation I thought" "Captain, we don't need you to think about these things, you were ordered to find a way to resolve the Romulan situation." "But what about the evidence we uncovered? Our computer indicates" "I don't care what your computer indicates. Computers can be fooled. This is obviously a false communication. Any such message would have been intercepted by Starfleet intelligence." "But Admiral, these communications came from a completely different system that doesn't even use subspace." "Captain, turn back now, I won't tell you again." "Two of my crewmembers may have been killed trying to get this information, don't tell me that there isn't something going on here." "Captain you leave me no choice..." Picard finally made a decision. He cut the transmission and decided it was time to make a ship wide speech. He also sent a copy of most of the information he had to the ships already assembled around the Aegonis system. All those who didn't want to participate would be dropped off at a nearby colony. Those that stayed would risk it all in attempt to save the Federation.  
  
Galen and Crusher came to rest in a side room almost five miles into the tunnel system. He had taken enough turns to throw off virtually anyone who would follow and the shadow tech inside released enough exotic energies to make tricorders almost useless over 20 yards. The room he chose was interesting because it was filled with technology that didn't originate from the Shadows. Interestingly the language printed on the computers and instruments was English, but the technology looked to be about a century older then what he saw of the Federation. 


End file.
